Ouch, thunk, ouch, thunk – how it sounds to run with arthritis in your knees

August 27, 2012

The following is a post guest post from Carolyn Pleasance, originally posted to her blog.

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Owie….or running just to hear myself whine.

They say love hurts…I’m not sure why running has to, since sometimes I don’t think I love it…however I’m developing a relationship with my physioterrorist that rivals that which I have with my husband. She’s spent hours rubbing oils and potions and lotions on my body, she’s asked me to lie down, roll over, stick this body part here and that one there.

All this in the quest to fix the arthritis in both my knees. Every time she pulls the Graston rods out I try to slither backwards off the table. I’ve never known a strange creepy pain like that one. If you’ve never been Grastoned before, picture this: first they apply lotion to whatever part of you is going to be tortured. Then they take this metal rod, sort of like a banana clip hair thing in shape, but solid metal, and they pull it along your skin like they’re trying to roll the area flat, or squeeze the last of the toothpaste out of the tube. This causes every bit of skin, muscle, tendon, whatever else lurks there to be compressed and pulled at the same time. Yep, it hurts, nope you don’t get used to it, and yep (again) it’s worth it. Then to add insult to injury, you get these electrodes attached to the owie bits and they run this freaky currently through it that feels like a zillion electric bugs crawling under your skin. And I pay for the honour of having this done to me too.

So the knees are happier than they’ve ever been. I don’t look at the stairs in my house and consider just living in the kitchen and showering in the sink.

The bummer is that my new shoes (which apparently have tons of motion control and stability) have caused me to become newly unstable and do damage to a tendon in my left foot. Just when god slams the door he also locks the window. Back to physio where I now have my left foot bashed against a wooden block (I don’t understand it either) and to the Running Room to buy me some new kicks. Three pairs and a half hour on the treadmill testing them later, and I’m back on the road. The knees only protest meekly and the foot wonders why I have forsaken it, but I’m on a mission to increase my speed and therefore can mostly ignore the twinges.

The secret to increasing your speed is to run faster. I know, who’da thunk? The secret to running faster is to run shorter distances faster than you normally run longer ones. The secret to doing this is not to smash into something or run off the trail while staring at your Garmin to see how fast you’re going.

ouch, thunk, ouch, thunk…..

iRun the 9 Run Run to say “thank you”

RunningForAReason

August 27, 2012

The following is a guest post by Mark White.

Hello iRunNation. My name is Mark White and I am a runner participating in the 9-Run-Run half marathon this year. I have a very personal connection with the 9-Run-Run event this year. I get to say “thank you” to the people I don’t remember but whose impact on my life cannot be overstated.

Let me begin where my memory starts; waking up in a bed with my Mother sitting in a chair beside me, my brothers and Dad talking together next to the bed. It was a strange place, but my family was there, I was very tired, and I fell asleep again. Unknown to me was that they had been there for the last 8 days. I was in the Civic Hospital Trauma Ward. My parents and brothers flew into Ottawa because they heard my name on the radio. “On July 19, 2009, 5 cyclists in Kanata were hospitalized after a hit-and-run with an unknown vehicle on March road.”

Fast forward to September 2010, I sat in a courtroom listening to testimonies from many of the First Responders who were at the scene of the collision. Their accounts were graphic, shocking, and clearly had a residual impact on them. I wanted to say “thank you very much, thank you for all you did and for helping my friends and I survive, when the one responsible drove away and left us there.” I thought of the 9-Run-Run event and vowed to enter it in 2011 and run to honour the men and women who responded to our scene. To my dismay, the trial dates overlapped the 9-Run-Run event in 2011. It was not appropriate for me to have any contact with them at that time.

Not deterred, I aimed for bigger in 2012. I didn’t know how to identify the First Responders who were called, nor how to liaison with the Fire, Police and Paramedics. So, I emailed the Chief of Police and stated my goal and reasons. I wanted to meet the men and women who aided my friends and I when we were severely injured. I wish to simply say “thank you”, shake their hands and show them I have healed enough to run in an event that honours their service, courage, and professionalism.

October 20^th is approaching and the hard work of many is coming to fruition.

On Saturday, Oct. 20^th, in Stittsville, I get to meet the First Responders (Police, Fire and Paramedic) who came to our aid and are a significant reason why I can continue to run and cycle in this great city.

Many contributors are required to save a life from a devastating injury. Of the orchestra of aid workers; Police, Fire and Paramedics are there first to begin the symphony of healing. To them we say “Play on!” to the percussion of our feet.

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If you, or someone you know, is Running for a Reason, please send your story to webeditor@irun.ca and we might feature it right here on this blog!

Circuit Training for Strength

PoweredbyPeak

August 26, 2012

Ed McNeely – Peak Centre for Human Performance

Time is a precious commodity. Most of us don’t have nearly as much as we would like. It is difficult to balance a career or school with training and family commitments. So how is it possible to juggle everything and still have an effective workout? The answer is circuit training.

Circuit training has been around for many years. Traditionally circuits have consisted of either bodyweight and medicine ball exercises or low weight high rep weight training exercises designed to increase muscle tone or strength endurance. While this has been the norm, circuit training can be so much more. When designed properly circuit training can be an effective way of increasing strength and power.

Designing a Power Circuit

The concept behind circuit training stays the same whether you are training for strength or strength endurance. A series of exercises are performed one after the other with little or no break between the exercises. The difference between power circuits and endurance circuits is found in the intensity and volume.

Intensity

In order to increase strength you need to work with at least 60% 1RM. Usually strength circuits will be performed between 60% and 85% of 1RM. Higher intensity places a greater demand on the nervous system, requiring more rest between sets, making it difficult to perform circuit style. Endurance circuits would be done with less than 50% 1RM.

Volume

Volume is the total amount of work. It is usually calculated by adding up the total number of repetitions for each exercise. For instance 6 sets of 5 reps would be a volume of 30. For strength increases the volume of training for each exercise is normally 15-40 repetitions. This doesn’t mean 15-40 reps per set but rather the total volume is 15-40. If you did 3 x 10 on the bench press you would have done a volume of 30 if you did 6 x 5 you would also have a volume of 30. More volume in a session does not mean more strength gain. The stimulus to increase strength is like the button on an elevator. Push it and it will come, pushing the button more doesn’t make the elevator come any faster. More volume in a training session will only increase the time it takes to recover. As a general rule when you increase the volume of an exercise you will decrease the intensity.

Speed

Movement speed is critical to power development, particularly during the concentric or positive part of the movement. While slow movements have their place in a training program, the attempt to be as explosive as possible during the concentric part of the movement is the key to power development. This does not necessarily mean the weight, particularly a heavy weight, will be moving fast; but you should be trying to move it as fast as possible. The eccentric or negative needs to be controlled.

Think Time not Reps

In order for a strength circuit to be effective you need to control fatigue. Fatigue during power training circuits will be caused by either a depletion of ATP-CP, the immediate source of energy in the muscles, or an accumulation of metabolites. If the fatigue is caused by depleting ATP-CP that’s fine because this energy system can recovery very quickly, 2-4 minutes for complete recovery, and allows you continue to work at the right intensity and speed.

The recovery time form high levels of metabolites can be as much as two hours. High levels of metabolites will make it difficult to work at the appropriate intensity, decreasing the effectiveness of the workout. To decrease the contribution of metabolites to fatigue the duration of each station in the circuit should be kept to 15 seconds or less. Notice that we aren’t recommending a specific number of reps because this can vary from exercise to exercise, depending on the range of motion and the weight used. A lot more reps can be done on an arm curl in 15 seconds than on a squat. The goal is to do as many reps as possible in the 15 second time frame, using good technique and a controlled eccentric. When the whole circuit is completed a 2-4 minute rest is taken before the next round to allow full recovery of your ATP-CP stores.

Selecting the Exercises

The order of exercises in the circuit will also affect fatigue levels. Upperbody and lower body exercises need to be alternated to spread the fatigue as much as possible. You should alternate push and pull as well. For instance if your circuit starts with a pulling exercise like pulldowns you would then move to a lower body exercise like leg press, your next upperbody exercise would then need to be a pushing exercise like bench press and the lower body exercise would need to be a leg curl for the hamstrings.

Sample Circuit

Exercise	Circuit I Time/reps	Circuit II Time/reps	Circuit III Time/reps	Circuit IV Time/reps	Circuit VTime/reps	Totals
Bench Pull	15s/ 8	15s/ 8	15s/ 8	15s/ 8	15s/0	32 reps
Leg Press	15s/ 6	15s/ 6	15s/ 6	15s/ 6	15s/ 6	30 reps
Bench Press	15s/ 6	15s/ 6	15s/ 6	15s/ 6	15s/6	30 reps
Leg Curl	15s/ 6	15s/ 6	15s/ 6	15s/ 6	15s/6	30 reps
Arm Curl	15 s/10	15 s/10	15 s/10	15s/0	15s/0	30 reps
Calf Raise	15s/15	15s/15	15s/0	15s/0	15s/0	30 reps
Overhead Press	15s/ 6	15s/ 6	15s/ 6	15s/ 6	15s/6	30 reps
Back Extension	15s/ 6	15s/ 6	15s/ 6	15s/ 6	15s/ 6	30 reps
Tricep Press	15s/ 10	15s/ 10	15s/ 10	15s/0	15s/0	30 reps
	Rest 2 min	Rest 2 min	Rest 2 min	Rest2 min

This is a circuit designed to give a total volume of about 30 reps for each body part with an intensity of about 70% 1RM. You won’t be near a failure point on any of the exercises. This is fine since failure is not necessary to increase power.

The number of repetitions you do in each 15 second set will depend on the exercise. Arm curls and calf raises have a much shorter range of motion than back extensions or leg press so you can do more reps in 15 seconds.

When you achieve the desired volume, 30 reps in this example, for an exercise the exercise is eliminated from the circuit and you take a 15 second rest when you get to that station. If you look at the calf raises you will see that after two circuits you have done the required 30 reps. For the remaining circuits you now take a 15 second rest when you get to the calf raise station. Do not continue to do calf raises because this will increase the volume too much and potentially overtrain your calves. Make sure to take the rest period. Do not move onto the next exercise and skip the rest period because you will ruin the upperbody-lowerbody pattern that you need to follow.

Under ideal conditions you can complete this circuit in under 25 minutes. If you need to wait for equipment or take a long time between stations your time will obviously increase. This type of full body circuit can be done twice a week with two days rest between sessions making it a very time efficient way to fit power training into a busy athlete’s program.

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PEAK Centre staff have the highest certifications available in Canada for Sport Science. With their combined experience and education, PEAK Centre is at the forefront of practical Sport Science application.

Tips for running a race in costume

August 21, 2012

I had the joy of running the 15K at A Midsummer Night’s Run in Toronto on Saturday night. I love this event. Since I am a lousy evening runner, I don’t take it overly seriously and can take full advantage of the festive atmosphere – from the beer garden and barbecue, to the Shakespearean theme and costume contest – which brings me to my point.

Last year I went with the classic “woodland fairy” type of costume – very appropriate for a race that is themed after A Midsummer Night’s Dream. There were tons of other fairies there, and even a couple of donkeys. Now, I love a simple theme where you can make a costume rather than having to buy one, so that outfit was made out of old curtains, fake flowers, coat hangers, pantyhose and spray paint.

This year I decided that I had to look dramatically different if I wanted a shot at winning the costume contest – clearly there were some others who felt this way as this year there were a lot of things besides fairies, from superheroes to Peter Pan. Anyway, my costume was called “If Jules Verne had written A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” My costume was still homemade, but included some premade pieces; for example, I started with a taffeta skirt, shirt and waist cincher from the second hand shop, made some metal accessories from parts acquired at a hobby shop, and topped it off with a fascinator. Not to abandon a longstanding tradition of making costumes out of window treatments, I made airship sail wings out of an old Roman shade with some coat hangers and wooden dowels, then hung a solar lantern from the back and threaded some glow sticks along the hangers.

Here’s the thing: unlike last year, when my costume was nearly perfect for running in, I made a few serious errors in judgment when I put it all together. First of all, taffeta is a heavy, yet fragile fabric. That meant that every stitch used to bustle it up either broke, or tore through the fabric – and since taffeta skirts tend to be floor length, I had to carry the bottom of the skirt over my arm for a good portion of the run, meaning I couldn’t swing that arm, and couldn’t breathe properly.

Secondly, there was a serious design flaw with the wings, and while Roman shades don’t seem all that heavy, but they’re significantly heavier than pantyhose, let me tell you. Without getting into great detail, let’s just say I have a lovely bruise and a bunch of missing skin in the middle of my back. In retrospect, I should have anticipated that based on the design, but you know what they say about hindsight.

Oh, and the glow sticks? The first one worked its way out of place before I’d even reached the 1K marker; I ended up carrying three and have no idea what happened to the other three – sorry for littering, Tommy Thompson Park!

Despite all of that, however, I have to say that it is always a lot of fun to run in a costume. Spectators and the police seem very entertained by it, not to mention that a good wingspan gets you some personal space right from the start.

Sadly, I was down at the finish line cheering and missed the awards, so I have no idea who won the costume contest – or what standard was set for next year!

Tips for designing a costume for a race:

Less is more: you’ll be happier if you make it lightweight and breathable!
Make sure it’s secure: accessories are awesome, but if you’re worried about losing them, they’re a huge distraction. Just make sure you clip, sew, or stick them on securely, or wear them for the pictures then remove them for the race.
Watch your designs: look for things that can poke, rub, bounce, or otherwise cause damage to your body – if they are a tiny bit annoying standing still or running a few practice steps, multiply that by about a scrillion to determine how it will feel by the end of your race – then remove said irritant. Trust me.
Watch the masks: there is a definite safety concern here. If you wear a mask, make sure it doesn’t interfere with your vision or you could really get hurt.

Have you run a costumed race before? What was your costume? What are your tips, and did you learn any of them the hard way?

ENDURrun Stage 7 – the last frontier, August 19, 2012 : The Marathon

dmclaren

August 20, 2012

ENDURrun Stage 7 – the last frontier, August 19, 2012 : The Marathon

I’ve learned that finishing a marathon isn’t just an athletic achievement. It’s a state of mind; a state of mind that says anything is possible.– John Hanc

Your toughness is made up of equal parts persistence and experience. You don’t so much outrun your opponents as outlast and outsmart them, and the toughest opponent of all is the one inside your head. Joe Henderson

Our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but how we react to what happens; not by what life brings us, but by the attitude we bring to life.” – Unknown

Still having issues with importing pictures in WP so text is all you get for now. (sorry)

After 6 days of running in and on various terrain, it’s come down to this. The final stage, which starts where it all began a mere week ago.
The marathon. The longest distance covered in a stage in the ENDURrun, but arguably not the hardest. The route is much like the half marathon that started the ENDURrun; rolling country roads, with a small out and back portion. Even the start and finish line is exactly where the half marathon started. After what we’ve been through, you would think that this stage is relatively simple. Just straight forward running. No mountains to climb, no trails to traverse, no major hills to contend with. But as anyone who’s ever run a marathon will tell you, it is a very unpredictable. Many things can, and do, happen on a marathon.
The previous evening we had all gathered at Lloyd’s house for a BBQ held for all the participants and their families. It was a social event, designed for us to all celebrate what we’ve accomplished as a group, to socialize, and to enjoy some of the home-cooked food that we’d preferred over the course of the week. The mood was light, but you could see that people were still a bit nervous with what was still coming, especially the newbies. The non leader competition is still present. After the party we went back to the dorm rooms at King’s Court where we were staying and packed up everything; race time was 7:30am, so got a ride with Paul and arrived at the starting line around 7:15am.
The start line takes place just outside a park, which also doubles as the food serving area.
Soon, it was time to get to the start line and start the race. Lloyd did his usual roll call, gave us our last minute instructions, and off we went for two loops of 21.1km each
I came through the the first loop at the start/finish in 2 hours and 5 minutes. This was my “plan A” goal to try and maintain a 6 minute per km pace. I felt quite fresh and needed to stay focused and not beat myself up as there was still 2 hours of running left. I must say that the past 2 months of solid weight lifting has helped my arm swings, body positioning and running form.
One of my worries about the marathon was that it is can be a singular run, meaning that I am on my own for most of the distance, especially the second loop around. The second loop, can be the most difficult, because you’re seeing everything you’ve done before. Mentally, you know how long that loop is, and that you have to do it all over again. and you know where the rises are.
I was passing some of the guest runners and on the straightaway, could see other runners in the distance.
I spotted Ed at the first turnaround (remember he is about 4 to 5 minutes ahead of me in the standings.) Onward we ran. Still keeping him in sight and using RFM (relentless forward motion) I finally joined him at the 30km mark. We ran together for a bit, and then hit a hill, so I forged on and wanted to get the run over with so I pushed the pace a bit more.
There is an out and back area between 38 and 39 km so on my way out, there was Ed looming behind me.
The last 3km does have two significant hills, and I had to run both of them.
The term Running is relative as my pace times began getting slower (And I splashed orange Gatorade in my eye which stung a bit)
Finally, the home stretch was in sight. The ENDURrunners who’d finished their run, all started to cheer me in, and I broke the tape (yes, they had finisher’s tape for EVERY runner) at 4:20 (one minute faster than last year.
I had DONE IT!
Another ENDURrun finished. I was ONE TOUGH RUNNER (again)
But hey I felt great.(after sitting and resting for about 3 minutes) No blisters, no soreness, just a bit tired.
Ed finished about 5 minutes after me, and the final results had me ahead in the standing by 40 seconds. YAY

Next year…..well…. lets see how the year progresses for training.

Total time to run 100 miles

16 hours 45 minutes and 16 seconds
2011 – 16:51:20
2010- 16:42:35
2009- dnf (but we won’t go there)
2008 15:03:16
2007 14:43:42
You may notice the times they are a changin’ but I am still having a GREAT time.
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Gauging your pace during interval workouts

RHellard

August 20, 2012

One of our participants commented that he learned an important lesson during a Tuesday workout: “Do not overdo (as in miss your pace on the fast side) the first 2k repeats of a very tough Tuesday workout…you will pay for it the rest of the workout, especially if it’s very hot and humid.”

Coach Rick Hellard agrees: “The key is to start just a bit on the slow side (5sec/km can make the difference) and speed up as the end of the workout gets near. If you are going to make a mistake in pacing, go too easy, not too hard. It is much more enjoyable and productive that way. This same theory goes for races as well.”

The truth is, you’re going to blow up every now and then with these workouts, especially if you are new to speed work – but that’s part of how we learn to pace ourselves.

For the speed work veterans who are reading, have you ever blown up during a workout? How did you learn to gauge your pace during your repeats?

ENDURrun- Stage 7 – the Marathon – August 19, 2012

dmclaren

August 19, 2012

Still having issues with pics.
Short update, details SOON
Finished Marathon 4:20 beating last year 4:21
Over all last yeat 16 hours 51 minutes — This year 16 hours 45 minutes and moved into 21st spot
Whew..
This was my 6th year and was strong.

A Few Thoughts for Age Group Runners

PoweredbyPeak

August 19, 2012

Ed McNeely – Peak Centre for Human Performance

Master’s sport is growing rapidly in North America. I was speaking to a group of running coaches the other day and one of them made a statement that kind of puts everything in perspective “everybody becomes a masters runner, nobody can go back to being a junior”. With this in mind I would like to discuss a few things that every masters (or future masters) runner should consider.

Effects of Aging

Much research has been done on the effects of aging on performance. It has been accepted that there is a decrease in strength, aerobic power, anaerobic power, flexibility, balance, cardiovascular function, and reaction time. Before you become too depressed about this keep in mind that most of the research has been done on sedentary people who remain sedentary.

Exercise will slow the decline in physical functioning associated with aging (all the more reason to run). Those of you who take up running for the first time as a master’s aged runner may find that they are in better shape now than they were when they were younger. Many who come back to rowing after several years off find that they perform as well or better than when they were younger. A variety of reasons contribute to this a better training regime, more patience, better equipment, and the finances to hire coaching go a long way to improving performance.

I don’t want this to sound like runners are immune to the effects of aging they just have to kept in perspective. A recent study that examined 10k races found that, for the average runner, age accounts for about 33% of the differences in scores across the age categories for men and 21% for women. Technique, motivation, and physical conditioning were far more important for most runners. For the best runners age was a bigger factor and accounted for 90% of the difference in scores. This means that the top 40-year-old runner will most likely beat the top 50-year-old runner.

The rate of decline in performance due to aging is about 7-13% per decade. With the rate of performance decline accelerating after age 50. If year over year your performance times are staying the same it actually means you are improving by 0.7-1.3% per year. If you are seeing improvements you are further ahead than you thought.

Year Round Training

Many master’s run during the summer and fall, take 4-5 months off, then start up again. I have heard many of these people complain that they don’t seem to make any progress from year to year. Training adaptations will be maintained for at most 6-8 weeks unless a maintenance program is used. To maintain aerobic fitness 2-3 training sessions of 40-60 minutes should be done each week. This training doesn’t have to be running, cross training is an effective means of maintaining your aerobic base.

Training Hours

The number of hours you are willing or able to commit to rowing will affect your performance. To a point, more training means better performance. Elite International rowers will train 800-1000 hours per year. This is unnecessary and probably impossible for most master runners because of decreased recovery ability.

Commitments to work and family limit the number of hours that most master’s rowers have for training. If you have hit a plateau in performance you need to consider increasing your training time. A 10% increase in the number of yearly training hours can pay huge dividends in performance. However, unless you have regular coaching on running technique more that 9-10 hours of training per week is unnecessary for the master’s athlete.

Unless you were an elite runner, performance improvements are possible throughout a master’s career. With more resources and a little patience you will probably be performing better than when you were younger. Most of the normal effects of aging can be delayed with a well designed training.

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ENDURrun- Stage 6- 10 km Time Trial – August 18, 2012

dmclaren

August 18, 2012

I am having problems linking photos, so you are stuck with text for now.

Having once decided to achieve a certain task, achieve it at all costs. Self confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labor is immense.

–Thomas A. Bennett

Stage 6 the 10 km time trial Run as fast as you can? 0r save yourself for the marathon?

Woke up this morning with some residual soreness and tightness in my calf muscles …where that came from?

Well this stage course is virtually flat. We are transported to Elmira and we run back to race headquarters.

We carpooled to the start at about 7 :30.

There were 60 runners today (including the Sport, Guest and Relay teams. Lloyd starts us off at 30 second increments based on your finish time from Stage 5.

Running from Elmira on the highway you can see all the runners ahead of you. Fortunately , no one passed me today.

Weather was perfect for running today.Compared to the rest of the summer, almost chilly. Clear fresh air.

It is really nice running in the country. Seeing all the produce and fresh flowers.

Andrew (Susan M.’s husband) was out today with his kazoo (I guess it is awkward to bike and play his banjo)

Bob layed down the hammer and stamped his authority on this series by running the 10k in around 35 minutes.

Jackie is still in the lead for the women’s race.

My finishing time was 51:17 (2011 = 52:20 ; 2010 52:02)

Ed finished in about 53 minutes and Chris ran 50 minutes, so is now about 15 minutes ahead of me.

The marathon is the deciding event.

My marathon times have not been that spectacular so I have no idea where I will be at the closing ceremonies on Sunday. I am in about 23^rd or 24^th spot.

The trick is to run within myself and run my own race. There is room to make up times.

We are going to Lloyd and Julie’s house tonight for the Endurrun social (and maybe a swim).

Because this is the 10k report it is short,

Marathon report when I return.

This course is the same as the half marathon, where it all began 7 days ago. We run the same loop twice..yuk.

ENDURrun – Stage 5 – 25.6 km – August 18, 2012

dmclaren

August 17, 2012

Stage 5 – lets run UP a ski hill for fun.
ENDURrun 2011 – Stage 5: The 16 Mile Cross Country (or 25.6 KM for you metric folks out there.)

When the guy says go, you start to suffer – or you might as well not be out there. It’s a small piece of your life, make it hurt. — Aaron Cox, US Mountain Biking Champion

I am having issues with inserting picutres of the Stage 5 winner Sebastian Porten, in a time of 2:04 and ahead of Bob. (but will try soon)
Jackie still maintains the lead in the women’s ultimate ranks.

After a relaxing day off running on Thursday, it’s back at it on Friday, and this next stage is the toughest stage of the whole competition. This is where the training (or lack thereof) becomes evident for all to see. This is a demanding stage (for me anyway).

This is a very pretty course, despite the f**king ski hill, which, after 5 times, sucks the energy from you. But I digress.
As Sean says, running hills is all “elbows and arses.”
The run consists of five 5km loops through Chicopee Ski Club in Kitchener. Start off with 1-2km of some flat trails, then a climb up a service road to the top of the hill, almost 50m of elevation. (Similar to Around the Bay. Up over up and over and up again. Then into another small trail section with some switchbacks, then back up to the top, and straight down one of the front faces. You then run straight up the face of the largest hill. Once at the top, again, into the bush for some more trail sections, then down the back hill, around to the front, up some more trails to about half-way up, then straight down the last hill and through the start/finish line. Each of these trails have switchbacks.
The one advantage in running loops, is the way the sun filters through the bush and changes the look each time.
The first downhill caused my knees to complain and if you try to fly down, you tend to lose some of your running form.

My roomie Ed has about 5 minutes on me and Chris has 6, so I figured if I could stay even and keep them in sight, that will be good.

Paul drove Ed and I and we picked up Vickie and got to Chicopee around 7:30 I forget how close everything here is, compared to the City. The most excellent volunteers were running around setting things up, so we just hung out at the chalet, chatting and slowly getting ready. The sun was shining, and there were few clouds in the sky. Temperature was going to be around 25 during the run, with little humidity. That much was good news.
As we were waiting for the race to start, we were looking with (insert appropriate term for dread here) up the big hill which we were shortly going to be climbing. FIVE TIMES.
Soon it was time. Lloyd did the roll call, gave us last minute instructions, and with a “On your mark, get set, GO!” we were on our way.
We took off on the new part of the course. This was required as both sets of the ski hill `switchbacks`were taken out (to make way for the straight downhill portions. Slow and steady was the key. My plan was to do around 3 hours but any faster than that would be welcome. (after all , it is only 25km , right? And I was being delusional)

There is a nasty uphill (yes before the ski hill) which goes up, turn left, then go up some more,turn right and yes one more slight `rise` then a waterstation into some bush with switchbacks. This is also a moutain bike course. Then out of the bush and run down hill.
I actually liked this, because everything is working today so was able to actually fly down the hills. My goal was to continue running all the hills, except THAT one. I think the Brimley Hill training and my consistent weight lifting actually helped me accomplish this for the first 3 loops. On the 4th I was able to run 75% of the hills, (run a few flag markers, and walk one) This actually helped me run the majority of the ski hill too.
All the leaders started to lap me through the 3rd loop, and I got to wish them well, and talk with them a bit.
Speaking of loops, I was getting tired, and on my 4th loop, the thought of having to climb that hill again was wearing me out.
One of the runners I had passed previously was catching up, so had to push my final lap. Then I spotted Ed going up the hill.
Any way on my final loop, I saw the 4k sign and thought, hey I can run a 6 minute k. Well 8 minutes later arrive after flying down the last hill and (thinking I looked strong) surged to the finish in 3:19 not bad though.
Ed was about 100 meter ahead and I caught up with him and we sprinted to the finish line. We were even for 200 meters then with 25 meters to go he found another gear and cruised through the finish line and beat me by 3 seconds.

Ed is still ahead of me and Chris smoked the course and is now 15 minutes better than me.
On a brighter note, I am still 1st in my age group(insert winking smiley face here)

NEXT UP: A (relatively easy?) 10km road run, with a net downhill, on asphalt.
Stage 6 the 10 km time trial. We run in reverse order of our Chicopee finish.
Well this stage 6 course is super flat. We are transported to Elmira, and we run back to race headquarters.
Last years stage results
2011- 3:20
2010- 3:17

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